Can Meditational Practice Be Measured

7/28/2019 Can Meditational Practice Be Measured

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THE JOURNAL OF THEINTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OFBUDDHIST STUDIESE D I T O R - I N - C H I E F

A . K. NarainUniversity of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

E D I T O R SHeinz Bechert Leon Hurvitz

Universitat Gottingen FRG University of British ColumbiaVancouver, Canada

Lewis Lancaster A . W . MacDonaldUniversity of California, Berkeley, USA Universiti de Paris X, Nanterre, France

B. J. Stavisky Alex WaymanWCNILKR, Moscow, USSR Columbia University, New York, USA

A S S O C I A T E E D I T O R

Stephen BeyerUniversity of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

Volume 2 1979 Number 1


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T A BL E O F C O N T E N T S

I . A R T I C L E S1 . The Mongo l Khans and Ch inese Buddh i sm and Tao i sm, by

Sechin Jagchid2. From Madhyamika to Yogacara, an Analysis of MMK,XX IV. 18 an d MV, 1.1-2, by Gadjin m. Nagao3 . Dynamic Libera t ion in Yogacara Buddhism, by Alan

Sponberg4 . Yogacara and the Buddhis t Logic ians , by A lex Wayman

I I . S H O R T P A P E R S1. Sambodhi in ASoka's 8th Rock Edict , by A . L. Basham2 . Can Medi ta t ional Prac t ice be Measured? A Report on aQuant i ta t ive Survey , by Jacques Maquet3 . Nirvana and Metaphysica l Exper ience , by Ismael Q uiles

I I I . B O O K R E V IE W S A N D N O T I C E SReviews:

1 . Wo r l d C o n q u e ro r a n d Wo r l d R e n o u n c e r , by S.J. Tambiah2 . Compara t ive E th ic s in Hindu and Buddh i s t Trad i t ions , byRoderick Hindery.3 . Mahayana Buddh i s t Med i t a t ion : Theory and Prac t i ce , by

Minoru Kiyota, assisted by Elvin W. Jones4. C h a n d i B o r o b u d u r : A M o n u m e n t o f M a n k i n d , by Dr.

SoekmonoObituary:

1. Paul Demieville, by A lexander W. Macdonald

818491

99103106108

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Can Meditational Practice be Measured?A Report on a Quantitative Survey

by Jacques Maquet

In October and November 1977, I administered a questionnaire on meditational practice and spiritual development to157 Buddhists in the Colombo region of Sri Lanka. During thefour preceding years, I had approached the same matters byother methods: the usual anthropological participant observation of behavioral and verbal sequences during field trips inSri Lanka (1973, 1974), India (1974), Thailand and Burma(1976); the study of the traditional texts, many of which arerelevant to meditation, as this practice is considered essentialin the quest for liberation; and my own meditational experience, gained during 82 days of intensive training in three vi-passand centers in Asia (Kan dub oda in Sri Lanka, the Chon buriVivek Asom in Thailand, and Thathana Yeiktha in Burma).[See Maquet 1975 a & b.]The 1977 survey by questionnaire was an attempt to ascertain if it would be possible to study the relationship betweenthe practice of meditation and spiritual development, whichare phenomena of consciousness, by quantitative procedures.This is a report of that attempt.

1Before describing this limited survey, its theoretical relevance should be briefly discussed. W hat is called "the social construction of reality" has become the focal point of interest ina recent and growing trend of anthropological theory. Its fundamental assumption is that a society creates the reality in

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wh ich its m em b er s l ive. T h a t reali ty, which is perc eived by the mas objectively g iven an d in d ep en d en t f rom th e kno w ledge theyhave of i t , is in fact a collective construction validated by consensus r a t he r than by conform i ty to an ex te rn a l wor ld . T h eprocesses th ro ug h which " rea l it ie s" a re cons t ruc ted cann ot beeasi ly observed. Now the Theravada t radi t ion seems to of fera pr iv i leged case of rea l i ty in the making. Those enter ing thepa th d iscard th e "w ron g views," i.e . the con ven t ional co m m onreal ity (e.g. th e re is an identical self from bir th to de at h) , an dbegin "to see things as they are" (e.g. there is no such self) . Thepassage f rom on e rea li ty to the o the r is ob ta ined th r ou gh m edi ta t ion . My hyp othe sis is tha t m ed i ta to rs d i f fer f rom no n-m ed i ta tors in thei r exper ience and behavior . They are in the process of mo vin g from the m ain str ea m real ity, val idated by theimpl ic i t consensus o f common men (puthujjana) and by theeveryday l i fe experience, to the "true real i ty," val idated by theconsensus o f the nob le ones (ariyapuggala) who have real izedone of the s tages of l ibera t ion and by the momentary ins ightsexper ienced dur ing medi ta t ion . Th i s t r ans i t ion f rom one rea l i ty to another should be ref lec ted by a spi r i tual progress , suchas becoming less a t tached to one ' s p leasure and prest ige , lessinvolved in the pursui t of weal th and power , and more compass iona te to o ther s .

In the preceding per iods of my research, the inf luence of thei ndependen t va r i ab l e ( m ed i t a t i ona l p r ac t i ce ) on t he dependen tone (spi r i tual development) had been es tabl ished by qual i ta t ivem eth od s such as em pa thi c famil iar ity wi th a few m ed i ta to rs ,impressionis t ic assessments of the achievements of some recognized advanced monks (as they are f reely made by near lyeveryone in t radi t ional ly Buddhis t countr ies) , case h is tor ies repor ted in l i t e ra tu re , and comments in doc t r ina l t ex t s . I wan tedto tes t the appl icabi l i ty of a quant i ta t ive approach to the sameques t i on .2

In o rd e r to d o so , I devised a qu est i on na i re . T h e firs t sectionwas meant to assess the in tensi ty and the length of the responde nt ' s pract ice of m ed i ta t ion by asking : doe s he/she m edi ta te

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regular ly (everyday, once a week, once a month) ; for how longeach t ime ( less tha n on e hou r , on e hou r , two ho ur s , or m orethan two hours) ; for how many months or years has he /shemedi ta t ed w i th tha t f r equency . Some o the r pe r t inen t in fo r mation was asked such as: sex, age, level of educat ion, and social role (monk or lay person) .Sect ion I I was composed of 40 pa i rs of s ta tements . In eachpai r the respondent was asked to mark wi th an "X" the s ta tement which expressed h is /her behavior , fee l ings , or exper iencebe t t e r than the o the r s t a t ement .T h e que s t i onn a i r e was a dm i n i s t e r e d t o f ou r g r oup s . G r o upA inc luded 21 young men, average age 21 years , who were s tuden t s in a Buddhi s t h igh schoo l (pirivena). Eleven of these s tude n t s w e r e m onk s . G r o u p B i nc l ude d 19 m onks , a ve r a ge a ge27.8 years , who were s tudents in a teachers col lege . Group Cinc luded 17 yo un g m on ks , ave rage age 21 yea r s , who were res iden ts in a m ona s t ic t ra in ing ins t i tu t ion . Gr o u p D inc lude d 100lay persons , 28 males and 72 females , whose average age was43 .6 years ; they were teachers a t tending a s ix-week programdes igned to enab le them to t each Buddhi sm courses in p r imaryand secondary schoo l s .

TABLE 1DISTR IBUTIO N OF TH E RESPONDENTS POPULATION

Number:Youngest:Oldest:Average:Monk:Lay:Male:Female:

Group A21 pers.18 yr.28 yr.21 yr.1110210

Group B19 pers.23 yr.35 yr.27.8 yr.190190

Group C17 pers.18 yr.25 yr.21 yr.170170

Group D100 pers.32 yr.50 yr.43 .6 yr.01002872

A ten -m inu te in t ro du c to ry p rese n ta t ion was g iven to eachgroup in bo th Engl i sh and S inha la , The purpose o f the inqu i rywas explained: "To study, on a s tat is t ical basis , the relat ionshipbe tween medi t a t ion p rac t i ce and sp i r i tua l deve lopment in aBuddhis t perspect ive ." I t was a lso pointed out tha t the ques-86


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t ionna i re was no t meant to f ind ou t what the respondentsthought they should do, but what they real ly did feel or exper ience . The ques t ionna i res were comple ted vo lun ta r i ly andanonymous ly .The answers to the ques t ions were in tended to be ind ica torsof spir i tual dev elo pm en t , which was def ined acco rdin g to theTh e ra va da t r ad i t ion sha red by the r e spon den t s .

Fol lowing Bhikku Nyanamoli ' s d ivis ion of Buddhaghosa 'sVisuddhimagga (The Path of Purif ica t ion) in to three main par ts ,v i r tue (sila), concen t ra t ion (samddhi) and wisdom (pannd), fift een ques t ions were asked concern ing v i r tue , twelve concerning conce n t ra t ion , and th i r t een con ce rn ing w isdom. H ere a rea few examples :O n v i r tue :

# 4 . I f som ebod y ach ieves som eth in g as ou ts tan d in g as I haveach ieved my sat isfact ion dim inishe s my sat isfact ion rem ain s the sam e# 6 . When a f r iend of mine becomes the f r iend of ano therp e r s o n , I resent i t I do not resent i t

O n c o n c e n t r a t i o n :# 2 6 . W he n I e n d u re so m e physica l pa in , usua lly I try to see i t "at a distance" I worry about i t# 2 9 . When a though t comes to mind som etim es, I not ice its ar is ing rarely, if ever, I notice its arising

O n w isdom:# 3 6 . When re f lec t ing upon my pas t deeds I reg re t very m uch som e of the m

I t ry to forget , r a t he r tha n reg ret , som e of the m# 4 0 . I make of fe r ings and a t tend ceremonies a t the temple , very often very rare ly I pe rfo rm such r i tuals

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For each of the 40 questions, one answer indicated a moreadvanced spiritual achievement than the other. The overallscore (on 40) of each respondent was supposed to be a roughestimate of his/her spiritual development compared to that ofthe other respondents. The hypothesis mentioned above ledme to expect that meditators would have higher scores thannon-meditators.

3In the analysis of the results, the first problem was to determine where to draw the dividing line between meditators andnon-meditators. A priori it seemed reasonable to assume thata regular practice of at least a one-hour sitting per day for oneyear was necessary to expect significant effects of the practice.So the criterion of one-hour daily sitting for one year was usedto identify m ed itato rs. Only 12 of the 157 res po nd en ts met thisrequirement (2 from Group C, and 10 from Group D, 2 ofwhich were men and 8 of which were women).

TABLE 2MEDITATORS / NON-MEDITATORS(meditator: one-hour daily sitting for one year; non-meditator: less or nositting)Group Dl Group Dl

Group A Group B Group C Males Females TotalM editators: 0 0 2 2 8 12Non-meditators: 21 19 15 26 64 145To tal: 21 19 17 28 72 157This number of 12 represented only 7.6 per cent of a totalpopulation which varied in age, sex, and social role; it was notlikely to provide me with a significant term of comparison.IfI considered only the female teachers, the minority of 8 meditators constituted 11.1 per cent of the entire group of 72women, then the proportion of meditators was higher, and thetotal population was homogeneous with respect to sex, age,education, and occupation.88


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Now, th e crucial qu est ion : were the re s ignificant differencesbe tween med i ta to rs and non-med i ta to rs in the i r answers to the40 ques t ions? I co m pa red m ed i ta to rs and non-m ed i ta to rsamong the female re sponden ts o f Group D. For the 8 med i t a to r s , the average score was 32 .4 ; for the 64 non-medi ta tors ,the ave rage score was 3 1 .5 . T his m akes a d i f ference of 2 .3 p ercent which is not significant.

TABLE 3MEDITATORS / NON-MEDITATORS AMONG FEMALES OF GROUP D(Overall Scores)No. Average Score on 40 on 100M editators: 8 32.4 81Non -med itators: 64 31.5 78.7

4In conc lus ion , my a t tempt a t measur ing med i ta t iona l p rac t ice and sp ir i tua l development has produced two resu l ts . Fi rs t ,a t least a one-hour daily meditat ion was practiced for one yearpr ior to the inquiry by 7 .6 per cent of our popula t ion of presumably ser ious Buddhis ts . This re la t ive ly low percentage wasin agreement wi th the qual i ta t ive observa t ions made in Sr iLank a in 1973 . T h o u g h m ed i ta t ion is well known and dee m edto be necessary for a t ta ining l iberation, i t is practiced on a regular basis by very few Sinhalese Buddhists [Maquet 1975b: 184-

185]. Quant i ta t ive survey and qual i ta t ive observa t ion conve rged and conf i rmed one ano the r .The second resu l t : medi ta tors do not have an average overa l l

score of spir i tual development s ignif icantly higher (by 2.3 percent only) than the non-medi ta tors of the same popula t ion . Myhypothesisthe associat ion of meditat ion with spir i tual develop m ent w as thus not su pp or te d by the survey findings . Inaddi t ion they were contrad ic ted by the ev idence provided byqua l i t a t ive me thods (phenomeno log ica l desc r ip t ion based onthe close observation of a few cases, analysis of traditional texts,89


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my experiential approach). The qualitative evidence was sooverwhelming that the reasons for the disappointing results ofthe quantitative survey were to be found in shortcomings ofapp lication, such as the lack of a sufficient nu m be r of advancedmeditators and the misunderstandings of some respondentswho answered what they knew rather than what they did.Can meditational practice be measured? For the study of phe-nomena of consciousness, a quantitative approach has potentialities as a complement to qualitative methods. But it shouldbe used only under certain conditions: The investigator shouldknow each respondent personally to be sure that he/she understands the full significance of the questions, and so be ableto assess the meaning of the answer.These are the practical conclusions that can be drawn fromthis episode of my ongoing research on contemporary Ther-avada meditation.

References Cited

Nanamoli, Bhikkhu, tr. 1975: The Path of Purification fVisuddhimagga; byBhadantacariya Buddhaghosa (third edition). Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society.Maquet, Jacques 1975 a: Expressive space and Theravada values: A meditation monastery in Sri Lanka. Ethos (Berkeley, CA) 3, no. 1: 1-21.Maquet, Jacques 1975 b: Meditation in Contemporary Sri Lanka: Ideaand Practice. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology (Palo Alto) 7, no. 2: 182-196.

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Can Meditational Practice Be Measured